Gavin Young, from La Grande, admires a brace of Eurasian collared doves. Similar in taste to squab that is served in fine restaurants worldwide, the doves can now be hunted year-round and with no limit. Of course, it’s more humane to harvest the birds in fall or winter when they are not raising young. (JIM WARD photo)

Northeast Oregon residents may not realize it, but aliens are lurking in their neighborhoods. They have beady-red eyes, dome-shaped heads and sharp claws. Even their name, Streptopelia decaocto, sounds like something from the roll call at Area 51. But, before you call Homeland Security, I’m simply referring to a rather benign little creature called the Eurasian collared dove.

ENTERPRISE — Over the last 13 years the elk population on the Zumwalt Prairie has ballooned from 500 head to 3,500. For the managers of The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, keeping elk in balance with the rest of the ecosystem is a multi-level task.

Nez Perce Fisheries expands
its research into Crazy Man Creek by insterting a new transponder

IMNAHA — When it comes to fish recovery, being counted matters. This month Nez Perce Tribe Fisheries added one more instrument to the Imnaha River basin to see how many steelhead are making it to the upper tributaries to spawn in the spring.

A Red-bellied woodpecker takes flight from a telephone pole in La Grande. Birders from all over Oregon came to see the first documented sighting of the 9-inch bird in the state Oct. 31. (TRENT BRAY photo)

Local birders get to see first sighting of the Red-bellied woodpecker in Oregon

If you sight it, they will come.

That’s what Russ Morgan, a wildlife biologist for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, found out this Halloween.

In 2012, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counted 2,867 head of elk on the Zumwalt Prairie and 2,376 in the adjacent national forest. (PATRICIA JOHNSON photo)

Fall prescribed burns in Wallowa helping improve elk habitiat

JOSEPH — There’s more to prescribed fire than meets the eye. During a fall burn in northern Wallowa County last month, improving elk habitat was one of the targets, with some help from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Shorter days in the fall stimulate the buck to prepare for the upcoming rut. When researchers put male deer in a windowless building, they discovered that, by condensing a year’s light cycle into six months with light timers, they could force the bucks into two rut cycles, whereby they grew two sets of antlers in one year. (JIM WARD photo)

Mule deer rut peaks in November, sending bucks into a frenzy

For your average male Homo sapien to become smitten by the love bug, he’ll pick up on subtle cues from members of the opposite sex.

Curves in all the right places, a little lipstick here and a little mascara there, will all heighten his arousal.